Recent Reads

I really love to read and now that I am DONE with Medical School I have more time to read for pleasure. I am always asking around for a good book, so if you are looking for one here are some options:

"The Girl Who...." series by Stieg Larson ***** (five stars)
- My aunt passed these on to me and they are awesome - they will literally make you clap and fist pump the air while you read them alone in your living room. I'm reading the third and final one now. The main character is majorly quirky - but you can't help but love her. Follow the characters as they solve mysteries in each book. These books are long, several hundred pages, and in the first book it takes him about 100 pages to lay the foundation, but it is definitely worth getting through.


"The Last Precinct" by Patricia Cornwell ****
- This was my first Cornwell read and I want to read lots more. She also writes books in series so you can follow Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner, as she solves murders by examining the dead bodies. These are great for anyone with legal and/or medical interest.


"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers ****
- This book has a Christian theme and is about a man who falls in love with a prostitute and leads her to God by showing her true love and forgiveness.



"Same Kind of Different as Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore ***
- This books authors are the main characters; one is a rich man and one is a homeless man. It also has a Christian theme and is a true story about how God can form a life-long friendship between people from opposite background.


"Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham ***
- This is an older Grisham novel but it was a fun and easy read. It's about a professional football player who has been cut from every NFL team and faces the choice of giving up football forever or playing for the Italian league. Grisham paints the Italian culture and makes you fall in love without even going there.


"Killer Dreams" by Iris Johansen ***
- This is a science fiction book and is far-fetched like most science fictions are. It is about a scientist who has developed a method to tap into dreams and implant knowledge. In the book she is on the hunt to stop an evil person who has stolen her method and is using it to produce trained killers.


If you have any good books you have read lately, please pass them along. If you would like to borrow any of these, I would be happy to loan them out!

MATCH DAY! - There's no place like ROME!

Yesterday was probably the most exciting day of medical school - we found out where we will be continuing our training as a resident. For most people, it is good news; for others, their envelope tells them they have to spend the next 3-7 years at a place they really don't want to be; for a smaller number, they are told that even though they have spent 4 years doing the hardest thing they have ever done, and even though they are a doctor, they did not match and do not have a job for the following year - so it gets pretty stressful.

The day started off at my place. Some of my classmates and friends came over for breakfast. I don't have any pictures of this because I was running a little behind that morning and scrambling, literally, to make biscuits, eggs, bacon, and grits.

Then we headed to school to wait for the Match Day celebrations to begin. Some schools have a very formal, stiff Match Day with coats and ties - ours is not like that....at all. This year our theme was Superheroes and Villains, and for the first time we got to walk on stage to a song of our choice. The room was full of color, cheering, and crying (all joyful) - it was awesome!

The Rosie the Riveters are Jen Rusiecki - Pittsburg, Internal Medicine

and Yassmin Yousef - UAB, Pediatrics

Supergirl!
Ashley Saucier - MCG, Family Medicine

Paul Mayor - Indiana University, Ob/Gyn
and Shannon Crane - UT Houston, Pediatrics

Brad and Rachel Meers - UAB, Anesthesia

The best part - I matched at my #1 choice: Floyd Medical Center in Rome, GA. I'm excited to become an awesome Family Physician! Blake and I are heading to Rome this evening to go house hunting. On to the next journey!

Wedding Preparations

My little sister is recently ENGAGED! I am very excited for her! She has landed a great guy who we will be glad to accept into the family. The wedding is set for August 20 and planning is in full swing. Emily is at home on her Spring Break and she and mom have a full schedule this week. I went to LaGrange this weekend to go dress shopping with Emily and the other bridesmaids. We had great luck on our first trip - Emily found a dress she loves (and looks gorgeous in) and we got the bridesmaids dresses too. Cross that off the list!

You can see the bridesmaids but no white dresses just yet :) We will be wearing the green color.

Doh

I think I have a brain problem....

I left my headlights on AGAIN today to find that I have a dead battery for the THIRD time! It's so ridiculous all I can do is laugh. Lucky for me 3 MCG police units came to help me get rolling again just before the storm blew in. I didn't have to tell Blake until after the fact - didn't make it any better though :). I discovered today that the dinging alarm that notifies you when you leave your lights on is broken....obviously. I'm wondering how many lives my battery has.

On a better note: I made some really delicious muffins this weekend. Banana chocolate chip. The recipe is from another Blog I follow "For the Love of Cooking" - you can find the link on my profile. She makes a lot of really good stuff but I haven't made much of it because it is all from scratch and definitely doesn't follow my 30 minute rule. But these are definitely worth it and I will make them again.


Another good note: You haven't seen Finn in a while, and of course pictures make Blogs better so here he is!

Doctor Prom

The new picture is from Doctor Prom which we went to yesterday. Doctor Prom is an annual semi-formal for medical students at MCG. It seems kind of silly to go to "prom" as a graduate student, but at the same time it is fun to get dressed up with friends. This year was my "senior prom" and we really did have a good time. The band was awesome and as we creep closer to Match Day and Graduation my classmates as I get more relaxed and ready to party.

This is a picture of me and my girls Shannon (Pediatrics),
Jen (Internal Medicine), and Yassmin (Pediatrics):

Now contrast to Doctor Prom of first year:

And Doctor Prom second year:

I missed third year's Prom, I think I was on a rotation. Am I looking more doctor-ish? I see a difference in Blake, not so sure about myself.

I have been Breached!

I had a freak out moment today. I was paying some bills....at work....so I logged onto my online banking to check my account balances. I am used to seeing 3 accounts - checking, savings, and credit card - all through Bank of America, it is so convenient and great and free.

But today when I logged in, I only had two accounts showing - checking and savings. Where is my credit card? I thought, weird, maybe they are having a computer glitch, I'll check later. So I got home this evening, logged in, and saw the same thing.

I stayed pretty calm, so I thought, Blake might say otherwise - I only stomped a little, and I called the customer service line. Of course it is automated and I have to punch in 8 million numbers before I get any information. Then the first thing I hear in that sweet, calm, automated lady voice is "This account has been closed. Your remaining balance is XYZ."

WHAT? The true freak out begins. I did not close the account - what is going on? I may have had a small outburst. "I need to talk to a person!" I had to wait 20 minutes to actually get a living person on the line to tell me there had been a data breach. She couldn't tell me what exactly this meant. It doesn't seem like there are any fraudulent charges on my account, but they said when something looks fishy, it's easier to close the account than try to dispute things later.

When she said, "so do you have any questions?" Uh, yes, quite a few in fact. She answered them the best she could, and I should have a new credit card sometime next week.

Issues:
1) I use my credit card for everything. I don't carry a balance at the end of the month but I use it like a debit card because we earn points.
2) My car is currently in the shop being tuned up and we had planned to pay for the service with the card. It's a good way to earn a couple hundred quick points, plus they don't take checks.....we will figure it out....I hope....I need a car.
3) We have started booking things for a trip to San Francisco in April and when you check in, you are supposed to use the same card you paid with, and now I will have a new number. The person I spoke to said this shouldn't be an issue......well it better not be!
4) I wasn't notified that my account had been closed. I just happened to stumble on it. It would have been really embarrassing to go to pick up my car tomorrow and hear "uh, your card has been denied"

I'm sure more issues will arise and this will be a bigger headache than it already is, but maybe it was caught before it turned into a major catastrophe.

Ugh, Not Again!

I consider myself an attentive and conscientious person, but sometimes I have such ditsy moments it is shocking....

So I haven't been around in a while... I'm doing ICU at Doctor's hospital. I am seeing some crazy stuff and learning a lot of good medicine. I have really enjoyed it. One of the best things about the rotation is that they allow us to eat breakfast and lunch in the doctor's lounge. No packing or paying for lunch! I love free food...

So today as I was leaving, me and the other student decided to raid the lounge on the way home. I loaded up with cokes and ice cream. Then I walked out to my car, went to crank it, and got nothing. NOOOOO - not again. I had left my headlights on in a rush to get into the hospital this morning.

I say not again because I just did this same thing about 5 weeks ago at MCG. That time I called Blake and he was able to get the jumper cables from his work and come jump me off. This time, he was already home and said he would try to find some jumper cables. So I went back inside sat in the lobby, and pulled out a push pop. I probably looked retarded in my white coat slurping a push pop like a 4 year old, but hey, it was going to melt.

Blake wasn't able to find jumper cables, so I did what I probably should have done to begin with and got security to jump me off. I was rolling in about 3 minutes. It seems my battery has bounced back after going completely dead twice now. The first time I vowed to myself I would pay more attention and make sure I turned off the head lights.....hopefully I can make it more than 5 weeks this time.